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There's a war that's always being fought in financial markets - sometimes beneath the surface, sometimes in plain view - between the interests of debt holders and shareholders.

The focus of consolidation of European equity exchanges lies in the triangle of Deutsche Börse, Euronext and the London Stock Exchange. To the impartial, dispassionate observer, there might seem little problem with any tie-up between London and a continental European player. But to those who work and live in the markets, exchanges, like national airlines, are a mark of a country's honour and something to be fought for.

Portugal

Pity small investors. After three years of being kicked around by the markets, now they're being kicked by the people who encouraged them to have a punt in the first place.

Bankers have long been fond of jargon and they do a good line in euphemisms too. As we reported in December, some will do anything to avoid actually saying that the economy is in tatters and people are being sacked.

India

Euromoney received replies from 32 economists at leading financial and economic institutions. They gave each country's economic performance for 2003 and 2004 a score out of 100. The world's fastest-growing, best-performing economy in an ideal year would score 100; the worst economy in a disastrous year would score zero. Respondents were asked to consider economic growth, monetary stability, current-account, budget deficit or surplus, unemployment and structural imbalances. Economists also gave their GNP growth forecasts for 2003 and 2004. Countries which received no votes were excluded from this table.

CEO, Epic Investment Consulting

Few people would want Michael Conolly's job. As the chief financial officer of Portugal's state-owned carrier TAP, he faces all the problems his airline peers are struggling with, plus a few that are specific to his own company.

Not so long ago, a large stake in Deutsche Telekom would have been a nice asset for any company to have on the balance sheet. When telecom companies were all the rage, such holdings could be sold for a healthy profit. By last year, however, such a block of shares was far more of a millstone than a jewel.

Issuer: Deutsche Telekom

Paul Myners' address at Institutional Investor's European equity research awards' dinner was a neat second act to New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer's attack on US equity research analysts at the magazine's awards dinner in New York in November.